In his 28 January 2014 State of the Union address, President
Barack Obama called on Congress to raise the federal minimum
wage, which has been at $7.25 since July 2009, to $10.10.

The following day Obama echoed that sentiment while speaking at Costco: “Right now in
Congress, there’s a bill that would lift the federal minimum wage
to $10.10 an hour – $10.10 – $10.10, it’s easy.”

Tired of waiting for Congress to move on the issue of minimum
wage, a number of US states have taken matters into their own
hands.

Alaska

Alaskans should see their minimum wage increased in 2015, but
they have to wait for the election results of the 4 November
ballot initiative to be certified. The first pay increase to
$8.75 an hour from $7.75 will take place 90 days from the
certification, which be probably at the end of February, says Ed Flanagan, chair of Alaskans for a Fair
Minimum Wage.

Arizona

Arizona passed the Raise the Minimum Wage for Working Arizonians
act in 2006. The law gives the Industrial Commission of Arizona
the authority to raise the minimum wage based on the cost of
living measured by the consumer price index of all urban
consumers (CPI-U). The 1.7% rise in the index between in the one
year before August 2014 was applied to the state’s existing
minimum wage of $7.90 per hour. The new rate is $8.05 per hour.

Colorado

Colorado’s minimum wage saw an automatic hike on Thursday to
$8.23 and $5.21 per hour for tipped employees.

The adjustment is dictated by Article XVIII, Section 15, of the
Colorado Constitution, which requires the Colorado minimum wage
to be adjusted annually for inflation, on the lines
of the Consumer Price Index for Colorado. The new rates replace
2014’s general rate of $8.00 and $4.98 for tipped employees.

Connecticut

At $8.70 an hour, Connecticut’s minimum wage was already higher
than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. The state, however,
passed a law to gradually increase it to $10.10 in the next three
years. Connecticut was the first state to gradually raise its minimum wage to
$10.10. On Thursday the state’s minimum wage increased
to $9.15.

Florida

Florida’s minimum wage will rise to $8.05 on Friday, up from
$7.93, following a 2004 amendment to labor laws that will adjust
the minimum wage to match inflation. This increase will benefit
an estimated 416,000 low-wage workers according to the Economic Policy Institute.

U.S. President Barack
Obama golfs in Hawaii, December 24, 2014.Hugh Gentry/Reuters

Maryland

Connecticut might have been the first, but it was not that only
state to work toward $10.10. In May, Maryland’s governor Martin O’Malley signed a legislation that
increases the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 by 2018. On 1
January it increased to $8 from $7.25. It will then go up
another quarter in July – reaching $8.25.

Massachusetts

Low-wage workers in Massachusetts will see their pay go up to $9 a hour. That’s a $1 boost. That’s not
all. Forget $10.10. Thanks to a bill approved by the state’s
legislature and signed into a law by Governor Deval Patrick,
the state will have a minimum wage of $11 an hour come January
2017.

Missouri

A July reading of the Midwest Consumer Price will take Missouri’s
minimum wage up to $7.65 from $7.50. All businesses are required
to pay at minimum the $7.65 per hour rate, except retail and
service businesses whose annual gross sales are less than
$500,000, according to a release
from the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Montana

Montana Department of Labor and Industry has announced that the
state’s minimum wage will increase from $7.90 to $8.05 in
accordance with the Montana Code Annotated 39-3-409. The consumer
price index has been used as a reference to measure the increase
in cost of living to calculate the hike in wages. “An estimated
12,850 Montana workers, or 2.9% of the workforce, received hourly
wages less than $8.05 per hour in 2014,” according to a
department news release.

New York

New Yorkers, who were already being paid a minimum wage of $8 an
hour, will also see a bump in their paycheck. Their new rate?
$8.75. The pay hike was effective 31 December. A law passed in
2013 by the state’s legislature guarantees that next New Year’s
Eve they’ll get another raise, worth all of 25
cents.

Kevork Djansezian / Getty
Images

Ohio

In the new year, Ohio’s minimum wage will rise to $8.10 for non-tipped employees while
those workers who receive at least $30 a month in tips will need
to be compensated at $4.05 per hour, plus tips. The Ohio
Department of Commerce has issued this directive following a 2006
amendment to the constitution, which according to Policy Matters
Ohio, will affect one in 20 workers in the state.

Oregon

Effective 1 January, Oregon employers will pay 15 cents more in
hourly wages as the state has raised the minimum wage to $9.25.
As in several other states, this change too is aligned with
changes in the consumer price index. The hike will impact about
145,000 workers in the state, or roughly 8% of its total
workforce, according to the Oregon Department of Labor and
Industries.

Rhode Island

Just like their counterparts in Massachusetts, Rhode Island
residents’ minimum wage increased to $9 an
hour from $8 an hour. This is the largest of three consecutive wage hikes
approved by the state’s assembly. In 2013, Rhode Island’s minimum
wage went up 35 cents and this year it went up 25 cents.

The only downside? If you are a full-time student younger than
19, you only have to be paid 90% of the state’s minimum wage:
$8.10 an hour. Those 14 and 15 years old get even smaller wage -
75% of the state’s minimum wage. At $6.75, that’s 50 cents less
than the federal minimum wage.

South Dakota

Despite the business community’s opposition to the South Dakota’s
minimum-wage ballot initiative, the state’s hourly minimum wage
increases to $8.50. In the years after, the minimum wage will be
adjusted if there is an increase in the cost of living. “In no
case may the minimum wage be decreased,” insists the South Dakota Department of Labor.

Vermont

At $8.73 an hour, Vermont, too, is among the ranks of states that
already have a wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage.
The gap between the two wages got even bigger Thursday as
Vermont’s minimum wage went up to $9.15 an hour. Planning for the
years to come, in June Governor Peter Shumlin signed a law that
gradually increases the state’s minimum wage to $10.50 an hour by 2018. In the years after
2018, the state’s minimum wage will be adjusted based on the
increases in the cost of living.

Washington

On 1 January, Washington’s minimum wage increased to $9.47 per hour. According to the
Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, workers who
are 14 or 15 years old may be paid 85% of the adult minimum wage,
or $8.05 per hour. The change matches a 1.59%
increase in the federal Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage
Earners and Clerical Workers over the 12 months leading to 31
August. This change is estimated to impact 67,000 workers and totals to an approximate
increase of $312 in wages over a year, per employee.

Washington D.C

The District of Columbia’s minimum wage will rise to $10.50 on 1 July 2015. This is the
second of three raises as part of the capital’s staggered
increase from the 2013 minimum wage of $8.50. On 1 July 2016, the
minimum wage will be raised further to $11.50 an hour. The
three-step increase was initiated after mayor Vincent C Gray
signed the Minimum Wage Amendment Act of 2013 into law on 15
January 2014.